Recorded after Gil Evans provided the orchestral clouds through which Miles Davis blew on such classics as Sketches of Spain, Porgy and Bess, and Miles Ahead, Out of the Cool is a starburst. Evans"s title makes clear that this is a path away from the legendary 1949 Birth of the Cool, opening as it does with an obsessive (if calmly so) vamp that pulses for two minutes with maracas rattling before all the orchestra"s instruments enter. Built on a repeating four-bar figure, "La Nevada" goes on to peg Evans as a fully realized orchestra player, one who uses the color palette of over a dozen distinct voices as his instrument. As a pianist Evans manages startling spareness, making dramatic miniature figures and then comping through the orchestra"s skein with ritual regularity. Looking at the provenance of these tunes, one realizes Evans"s true scope of knowledge: he moves from Kurt Weill"s "Bilbao Song" to the Lydian (as in George Russell) modal structure of "Stratusphunk" to close the session with a regally charted take on Horace Silver"s "Sister Sadie." Note how trumpeter Johnny Coles steps up as a main soloist, and follow the harmonic topography. It"s a rare treat. --Andrew Bartlett